Lindas Caveat of the Night: Okay, so you have decided you want to serve.You have thought about doing a stint in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, or Coast Guard. But you are not sure if you want to go all the way and do it full time active duty like. So you are considering joining up as a member of the reserves or national guard. Well, check this out. First of all, you will never, ever, get quite the same training as the active duty members. If you only have to mess with it one weekend a month, and a 12 to 14 day active duty tour each year, that comes out to what 36 days a year? How can you really measure up to those who do it 365 days a year? Second, you will have to balance your reserve/guard activities with your civilan employment. You may say thats okay. My boss doesnt care what I do on weekends. Well, what about the aforementioned annual tour? Your ass is going to be gone for TWO FULL WEEKS! Are you going to have to use your vacation time for that? Or take leave without pay? Better check the fine print on that. Just because employers are SPOZED to support guard and reserve, doesnt mean that they really do. Oh, and speaking of which, what if the UNTHINKABLE happens? Thats right. You could get mobilized, or called up for active duty by order of president you-know-who, or anyone else who happens to be in office at the time. That means you are gonna hafta take a leave of absence from your civilian job (again, better check the fine print), and go play full-time soldier ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD for as long as your orders stipulate. Generally, that is about 1-2 years. Now when you are activated, you might think whoo-hoo! I am full-time active duty baby! I get all the rights and privileges therof. Not so fast! An activated reservist is never quite treated the same way as a full-time regular. This is where you gotta read the fine print, but this time on the military side of things. Want to take a few courses at the University or Community College outside the gate of your base? Better see if the military will really pay for it. What is gonna happen to that if all of a sudden you get deployed to Shitholistan? You would have to withdraw from your course, and see about getting your tuition refunded to you or them (fine print time once again!) and maybe pick up where you left off when you get back. Okay, so you come back from the war in Shitholistan with chest full of medals, an honorable discharge, and back to weekend warrior reserve/guard status. Dont think you will be able to pick up right where you left off with your employer. Will that time you were gone count for your retirement? Maybe. Will your same position still be there? Maybe. Remember, your employer has to keep going with or without you. Now by law, they gotta give you your job back. That does not mean they like having to do it. All those medals you earned as a Shitholistan war veteran arent gonna mean puzzydix to your employer. Even if they were veterans themselves, it wont matter a hill of beans. They may give you a job, but you may be sweeping the floor at a vice-presidents salary. And when you go back to your old desk, you find that it has been taken over by some new schlub, and all your personal effects are in a box somewhere, with some of the nicer ones gone missing (gee, we dont know what happened to all those nice pictures and sculptures you had in your office). Now I am not telling you not to serve, but all this was culled from actual experiences of guardsmen and reservists I have known. It is a totally different story nowadays when Johnny (or Janie) comes marching home.
Posted on: Mon, 22 Sep 2014 04:20:04 +0000
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